title: Polymer-stabilized liquid crystal microlens array with large dynamic range and fast response time.
abstract: We report a polymer-stabilized liquid crystal (LC) microlens array with a large dynamic range and fast response time. The top substrate has a planar indium-tin oxide (ITO) electrode, while the bottom substrate has two patterned ITO electrodes for generating a fringing field and uniform longitudinal field. The fringing field is utilized to create the desired gradient refractive index profile in the LC/monomer layer, which is later stabilized by UV curing to form polymer networks. To tune the focal length, we apply a longitudinal field to change the lens shape. This microlens array offers several attractive features, such as large dynamic range, fast response time, and good mechanical stability.
authors.forename: Hongwen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Su
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Shin-Tson
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D004566:Electrodes; D007909:Lenses; D050866:Liquid Crystals; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013997:Time Factors; D017971:Tin Compounds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers; D017971:Tin Compounds; C109984:indium tin oxide